Almost all versions of the series fit into the genre of black comedy or dramedy; the lead characters were doctors, nurses and patients, and the practice of medicine was at the center of events.

However, to relieve the pressures of duty in a field hospital close to the front and the attendant horrors of war, the staff engage in humorous hijinks, frivolity, and petty rivalries off-duty.

The film was directed by Robert Altman and starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce and Elliott Gould as Trapper John McIntyre.

Although the title had no punctuation onscreen, i.e. "MASH", in posters for the movie and in the trailer, it was rendered as M*A*S*H. M*A*S*H, a TV adaptation of the film, ran from 1972 to 1983, more than three times as long as the war it chronicled.

Morgan, a veteran character actor and former Universal contract player, portrayed Colonel Sherman T. Potter.

featured the character of Trapper John McIntyre, played by Pernell Roberts, twenty-eight years after the events of the M*A*S*H film and television series.

In 1973, a play by Tim Kelly, based on the book, television show, and film, was published in both one-act and full versions.

The cast from the M*A*S*H series appeared in advertising for IBM products, such as the PS/2 line that introduced the PS/2 connector for keyboards and mice.